The present invention relates generally to microfabricated devices, and more particularly to three dimensional microfabricated devices having a high vertical aspect ratio.
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) integrate micromechanical structures and microelectronic circuits on the same silicon chip to create an integrated device. MEMS have many useful applications such as microsensors and microactuators. An example of a microsensor is a gyroscope used in a missile guidance system. An example of a microactuator is a micropositioner used to move a read/write head in a disk drive.
In surface micromachining, the device is fabricated by depositing a thin film on a surface. The thin film is typically deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and etched to yield a desired shape. Then a layer of sacrificial material underlying the thin film may be etched to open up passageways or clearances between moving parts of the microstructure. The height of the microstructure is limited to the thickness of the deposited thin film. Since the thin film structure has microscopic thickness, on the order of one micron, it tends to be flexible out of the plane of fabrication.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a way to make taller microstructures (on the order of 10 to 250 microns). In addition, to increase the overlapping surface area of interdigited electrodes, the microstructures should have a high vertical aspect ratio; that is, such microstructures should have a height significantly larger than their lateral width. Furthermore, to minimize the clearance between interdigited electrodes, the channel between the interdigited electrodes should also have a high vertical aspect ratio.
Several techniques have been developed for making high aspect ratio microstructures, but these techniques have significant fabrication difficulties. One problem in some existing techniques is that the structural elements need to be wire bonded to the electronics. Because differential capacitance-based sensors may require the interconnection of many alternating positive and negative electrode plates (e.g., one hundred plates in an angular accelerometer), the large number of wire bonds makes this fabrication technique impractical.
Another problem in some existing techniques is difficulty in electrically isolating the microstructure elements from each other and from the microelectronic circuits on the chip. Unless the electrode plates are electrically isolated, the two sides of each sensing capacitor will be shorted together through the substrate. Consequently, capacitive sensing schemes cannot be implemented easily using existing techniques.
Accordingly, it would be useful to provide a microfabricated device in which the micromechanical structures have a high vertical aspect ratio and are electrically isolated from each other and from the microelectronic circuits on the chip.